Thursday, January 26, 2006

Pixi and I met for another lovely conversation and hot chocolate last night, and came up with a tentative plan for a northeast blogger (non-bloggers welcome too) gathering. At the moment we're thinking of having lunch on Sunday 2/5, at a place yet to be determined (although we do have a few options we're considering). If you'd like to join us (or if you'd like to come but that date doesn't work for you), pop me an email at noperiodbaby AT comcast dot net. We'd like to get a sense over the next couple of days of how many people are interested, and whether that date works or not.

*update* The gathering will take place at the Temple Bar in Cambridge at 11am on Sunday. It's a chic restaurant with great food, and I've been told we can have one of their most private tables in a corner. Check out Pixi's post for a list of who's coming. Can't wait to meet everyone!!

Friday, January 20, 2006

Overall I've been feeling quite a bit better this week - the queasiness is almost completely gone, except when I let myself get too hungry. Must feed the monster! (Whether that monster is me or Phred I'm not entirely sure.) Not so much of an aversion to sweet things either, although it's still there to some extent.

We had our second ultrasound this afternoon. Given that the little nausea I had been feeling had subsided this week, I was a little bit nervous - but that was totally unfounded.

You can definitely see the head and body now, the arm stubs (is that a technical term?;-), and what looks like eyes. Phred looks like a ghost in the picture! If he weren't already called Phred, we'd probably start calling him Casper.

The doc said that everything is looking fantastic. Measured the heart rate again, it's gone up to 176bpm this week. (From 108 at the last ultrasound). He checked my ovaries again, and told me that the egg came from the left side, because he could see the corpus luteum. I'm amazed that they can tell so much, down to which ovary the egg came from! Phred is measuring 8w1d.

I have my first appointment with the OB scheduled for Monday 2/6. I like getting to see the doc every two weeks, although I suppose I shouldn't get too used to it.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Last Friday I went out with a friend and had pizza for lunch. (Lurve Papa Gino's!). Brought back the leftovers and put them in the common fridge.

I was absolutely starving this morning, and SO looking forward to my reheated pizza. Ambled to the fridge to start my slices heating while I made a trip to the bathroom. (I think you can see where this is going...) Opened the fridge, grabbed the pizza box. A little lighter than I was expecting. And nothing sliding around inside.

Bastards ate my lunch!!!

So I left the following note:

"To Whom it May Concern:

The food left in this fridge is NOT for public consumption. If you did not buy it, it is NOT OKAY to eat it. I am sick and tired of my lunches going missing. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Nico.

P.S. Leaving behind the empty pizza box was a real touch of class!"

Apparently my coworker who comes in super early has seen people from a different building over here in the mornings, picking what they like out of the fridge. How can they possibly think that it is acceptable? ARGH! This is about the fourth time that my lunch has been eaten. I know that my note probably won't make a whit of difference, but it did at least make me feel better.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

No posting this week. Not much going on. I also haven't felt right posting 'happy happy joy joy' in the midst of the horrible heartache that others have faced over the last couple of weeks. My heart is breaking for so many fellow bloggers - I hate that the universe is so fucking unfair, and we never all seem to get what we want. I really truly wish that it could be different.

I've been exhausted this past week. Going to bed at around 9pm every night (for someone who's previous bedtimes were usually around 12-1am that's quite a change). My hubris of the previous few weeks is coming back to bite me with a vengeance. Last week I had been thinking that maybe because I'm exercising regularly and in pretty good shape, I wouldn't get the tiredeness that every one complains about. Hahahaha. Yeah, that's it. NOT! I've also been feeling queasy all week; no hurling, but just a generally yucky feeling. (Although no problems eating, except that I find I much prefer savory foods to sweet ones).

I had lunch with a friend who went through IVF with my RE on Thursday - I told her about how I was feeling mildy nauseous pretty much all of the time. She went on to tell me how she felt fine through both of her pregnancies, and her chiropractor thinks that women get nauseous because they think they should. That is such bullshit! And not terribly helpful either - yeah, I'm nauseous because I'm weak minded, thank you very much.

Thalia asked about why we're calling the little one Phred. I actually didn't even know about the Doonesbury character! M and I always used to joke about how it was silly for people to use outrageous spellings of names to make their kids unique... so we joked that we would call our first son (he's convinced he only makes boy sperm) Phred. Our second would be Fwed. And then we were watching a beanpot college hockey game where Harvard had a player with the last name Schweffel. So we decided that was a good name for our third son. So those have been our imaginary kids names ever since.

Friday, January 06, 2006

I was nervous all day. I felt nauseous for the first time - don't know whether it was nerves, or if it's an indicator of things to come. I had to laugh at myself though; I was walking to lunch, feeling queasy, with a huge smile on my face.

At the u/s, he started out by checking my cervix and ovaries, but I had a hint of something good to come 'cause I'd seen a big black blob when he first got the dildocam up there. After he'd recorded that I had a 12mm cyst on my right ovary, and that the left one looked good, that the tubes were all clear (whew), we got to the fun part.

He moved the cam to be able to look at my uterus, and I immediately saw the gestational sac (which measured at 5w5d), and the yolk sac. Another whew! The crown-rump length was at 6w0d. (I think I'm at 5w6d today, so that's right on).

And we had a hearbeat! It was so clear that both M and I were able to see it without the doc even having to point it out. Totally amazing. 108 bpm.

Of course I was quite emotional at that point, and had to work really hard not to giggle (which seems to be my response to release of tension) and I also felt like I was having a tough time controlling my Kegel muscles, if you know what I mean. Fortunately I managed not to let go, but I was expending a fair amount of mental energy on it. Wouldn't that have been a riot!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

I think it's so silly that they start counting your pregnancy before you're even pregnant. According to the way you're actually supposed to do it, counting from the first day of your last period, I'm actually at 9w1d. Although I'm pretty sure I ovulated on Saturday 12/10 (and definitely between 12/8 and 12/11), so I'm actually at 3w3d gestation, aka 5w3d. Silliness.

I've done a little more research on the internet, including looking at the betas that various people have posted on their blogs, and my numbers are higher (by almost double) than people who are having twins. Gulp. Now admittedly that sample size is pretty small (6)... Here's a little chart for your amusement. Actually, it was for my amusement. I was not concentrating very well at work today. I took my actual numbers for 14 and 16 dpo, then extrapolated what they would be on later days (assuming everything is going well, knock on wood!, numbers in italics). I did one set of calculations with my actual doubling time (37 hr), one with 48 hours (which is about average), and then put in the results from the other folks for comparison. If you assume that I ovulated on 12/8 instead of 12/10, so move all my numbers down a row, you're pretty much around the same levels as the folks with twins. But I think that's pretty unlikely (that I O'd that early).

dpo

me(37)

me(48)

Cass

Jenn

Tertia

Persephone

Suz

Ova Girl

14

344

344

166

164

16

823

823

305

459

166

490

18

1969

1646

457

20

4711

3292

2489

1385

21

7286

4656

1910

22

11270

6584

5133

2735

(if I have you here and your numbers are in the wrong place, please let me know! Also, if anyone else would like to add more data (singles, doubles or more!), please let me know in the comments. If I get enough, I'll post it all in an Excel file)

I'm excited for our ultrasound on Friday, when we get to see how many there are, and check that they're developing nicely (the baby[ies] should be somewhere between sesame seed and lentil sized), but a little nervous too. They do say that you can't use hcg levels to predict singletons vs. multiples, but I'm suspicious! Another potential reason for such high levels is Down's syndrome :-( I guess we can't find out about that for about another 6-8 weeks though.

I'm not really feeling much of anything at the moment. My breasts are a bit tender, but my Gap Body bras are dealing with that nicely ;-) I've also had some intermittent minor cramping, more of a dull ache than sharp pains though. No bleeding (which is good!), no nausea (also good), not feeling particularly hungry, no cravings (maybe a slight tendency towards wanting salty foods rather than sweet, but nothing major), no enhanced sense of smell, no burning need to pee every five minutes (perhaps I need to go more frequently, but it could just be because I'm trying to be better about keeping myself hydrated). Not feeling any more tired than usual (I'm crashing a little right now, but I did get up at 5:20 this morning to play hockey, so this amount of tired is usual for me on hockey days), no headaches... in short, I'm feeling just about the same as normal. I did use another OPK over the weekend, and it came out quite a bit darker than the previous one, so that's a good sign.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Last night we were quite boring, and went over to some friends' house to play pinochle (It's a rough game!). So instead I'll tell you about my favorite New Year's Eve celebrations.

My Mom, sister and I were visiting our friends and relations in South Africa, I think it was in '97-'98. At the new year, my sis and I were staying with some of our favorite cousins at their house in Durban. The two girls are a few years younger than us, but we've always gotten along famously.

The four of us got all decked out in some really cute cocktail dresses, and dolled ourselves up with judiciously applied make-up. The evening started with the cousins' two boyfriends coming over, then the six of us had a marvellous dinner out on the porch, overlooking the ocean. It was a warm summer evening, and we were all laughing uproariously, although what was so funny I have absolutely no idea. After some delicious chocolate mousse for dessert, we decided to go to a bar down on the waterfront that was having a New Year's Eve party. So we hopped in two cars and headed down.

Of course it was something that you already had to have tickets for, so we couldn't get in, much as the four of us batted our eyelashes at the bouncers. But we didn't really mind. Instead we went to a little bar down the street from their house, had a few drinks, and much more laughter.

We were tired well before midnight, so went back to the house to ring in the New Year and watch the fireworks being shot off from the beach.

The laughter, being dressed up, the people we were with - all made for a stunning time.

My second favorite celebration was last NYE, along a similar vein. M and I went out with another couple for dinner at a nice restaurant in the North End (Boston's little Italy). Afterwards we wanted to go somewhere with dancing, and my friend L used to work at a bar in the Copley Marriott that would have dancing that evening, so we headed over there. But they wanted to charge us $20 per person to go in! I hate paying cover charges, and that was just ridiculous. So instead we went to the Champions bar downstairs, where the cover was only about half, and M negotiated a buy 3 get 1 free with the bouncer, so we were a little happier with that. Still hate paying covers though. They did have hats and noisemakers, and a dj. So we had some more drinks, lots of dancing, fantastic french fries when we got the munchies - again, a great time was had by all. What was your favorite NYE celebration?

I'd like to wish each of you a wonderful new year, with your most cherished dreams coming true.

About Me

Thought I would "get healthy" in preparation for having a baby. Lost 20lbs to a BMI of around 20 in May-Jun '04. Went off the pill right after that, and surprise surprise, didn't even get my period. Diagnosed with hypothalamic amenorrhea. Gained some weight, cut exercise, didn't have anyone else with HA to ask questions of, so ended up moving to injectables, 4 BFN cycles. Surprise natural pregnancy while waiting to do IVF (and having gained those 20lbs back, cut my exercise 50%). DS#1 born 08/2006. Cycled fairly normally 1 year later, DS#2 born 09/2008. Cycles returned 10 months later. M/c 06/2010, then DS#3 born 04/2012 through IVF.